BUSINESS SEGMENTS

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2014

Segment Reporting [Abstract]

BUSINESS SEGMENTS

NOTE 21. BUSINESS SEGMENTS

The Company's operating segments engage in business activities from which they may earn revenues and incur expenses and for which discrete financial information is available. Operating results for the operating segments are regularly reviewed by the Company's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segments and to assess performance. The Company's chief operating decision maker is identified as the Chief Executive Officer. Operating segments are aggregated for reporting purposes when the operating segments are identified as similar in accordance with the basic principles and aggregation criteria in the accounting standards. The Company's reporting segments are based primarily on product lines and secondarily on geographic area. The reporting segments have different lines of management responsibility as each business requires different marketing strategies and management expertise.

The Company structures its business into the following five reporting segments: Americas Recycling, Americas Mills, Americas Fabrication, International Mill and International Marketing and Distribution. See Note 1, Nature of Operations, for more information about the reporting segments, including the types of products and services from which each reporting segment derives its revenues.

Corporate contains expenses of the Company's corporate headquarters and interest expense related to its long-term debt.

The financial information presented for the Americas Mills segment excludes Howell. Additionally, the financial information presented for the International Mill segment excludes the operations of CMCS. These operations have been classified as discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations. See Note 10, Businesses Held for Sale, Discontinued Operations and Dispositions for more information.

The Company uses adjusted operating profit (loss), a non-GAAP financial measure, to compare and to evaluate the financial performance of its segments. Adjusted operating profit (loss) is the sum of the Company's earnings from continuing operations before income taxes (benefit), interest expense and discounts on sales of accounts receivable. Intersegment sales are generally priced at prevailing market prices. Certain corporate administrative expenses are allocated to the segments based upon the nature of the expense. The accounting policies of the segments are the same as those described in Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.

The following is a summary of certain financial information from continuing operations by reportable segment:

	Americas									International
(in thousands)	Recycling			Mills			Fabrication			Mill		Marketing and Distribution		Corporate			Eliminations			Continuing Operations
2014
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	1,176,907		$	1,198,249		$	1,523,573		$	822,224	$	2,304,723	$	14,283		$	—		$	7,039,959
Intersegment sales	190,163			793,085			13,912			969		21,789		—			(1,019,918		)	—
Net sales	1,367,070			1,991,334			1,537,485			823,193		2,326,512		14,283			(1,019,918		)	7,039,959
Adjusted operating profit (loss)	(3,222		)	247,703			6,196			30,632		17,757		(72,347		)	(302		)	226,417
Interest expense*	2,700			7,059			10,222			4,608		8,900		44,252			—			77,741
Capital expenditures**	16,771			31,781			13,798			30,770		1,722		6,907			—			101,749
Depreciation and amortization***	16,424			45,392			19,192			32,776		4,150		21,243			—			139,177
Total assets****	296,564			647,437			691,765			466,449		949,016		1,100,995			(470,716		)	3,681,510
2013
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	1,225,604		$	1,060,337		$	1,427,785		$	819,889	$	2,344,128	$	11,832		$	—		$	6,889,575
Intersegment sales	166,145			759,183			14,906			6,155		11,444		—			(957,833		)	—
Net sales	1,391,749			1,819,520			1,442,691			826,044		2,355,572		11,832			(957,833		)	6,889,575
Adjusted operating profit (loss)	3,170			204,333			28,033			890		35,617		(66,453		)	848			206,438
Interest expense*	9			(101		)	83			992		4,369		64,256			—			69,608
Capital expenditures**	21,261			37,216			5,605			15,155		1,015		7,552			—			87,804
Depreciation and amortization***	13,453			42,925			22,302			33,238		17,988		21,096			—			151,002
Total assets****	309,599			598,478			631,510			487,613		838,413		1,075,594			(496,946		)	3,444,261
2012
Net sales-unaffiliated customers	$	1,418,717		$	1,206,651		$	1,366,944		$	955,730	$	2,700,300	$	8,033		$	—		$	7,656,375
Intersegment sales	187,444			777,070			14,694			77,627		27,019		—			(1,083,854		)	—
Net sales	1,606,161			1,983,721			1,381,638			1,033,357		2,727,319		8,033			(1,083,854		)	7,656,375
Adjusted operating profit (loss)	39,446			235,918			(15,697		)	23,044		47,287		(83,035		)	(6,251		)	240,712
Interest expense*	1,933			12,995			10,809			10,090		6,548		27,112			—			69,487
Capital expenditures**	40,329			38,140			4,389			14,016		3,314		8,197			—			108,385
Depreciation and amortization***	13,260			40,704			22,056			32,306		5,821		20,295			—			134,442
Total assets****	285,136			615,070			629,970			529,160		870,933		961,654			(494,053		)	3,397,870

________________________

* Includes intercompany interest expense (income) in the segments and is all eliminated within Corporate.

** Excludes capital expenditures from discontinued operations of $1.2 million and $5.5 million for the years ended August 31, 2013 and 2012, respectively. There were no capital expenditures from discontinued operations for the year ended August 31, 2014.

*** Includes asset impairment charges.

**** Excludes total assets from discontinued operations of $7.0 million at August 31, 2014, $50.5 million at August 31, 2013 and $43.4 million at August 31, 2012.

Reconciliations of earnings from continuing operations to adjusted operating profit are provided below:

	Year Ended August 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
Earnings from continuing operations	$	102,087	$	74,957	$	210,549
Income taxes (benefit)	42,724		57,979		(45,762		)
Interest expense	77,741		69,608		69,487
Discounts on sales of accounts receivable	3,865		3,894		6,438
Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations	$	226,417	$	206,438	$	240,712

The following represents the Company's external net sales from continuing operations by major product and geographic area:

	Year Ended August 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
Major product information:
Steel products	$	4,746,404	$	4,318,072	$	4,699,226
Ferrous scrap	659,578		646,263		763,772
Industrial materials	659,251		928,472		1,147,386
Nonferrous scrap	639,961		682,611		765,349
Construction materials	199,154		189,046		177,827
Nonferrous products	8,761		5,674		2,689
Other	126,850		119,437		100,126
Net sales	$	7,039,959	$	6,889,575	$	7,656,375

	Year Ended August 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
Geographic area:
United States	$	4,510,080	$	4,107,231	$	4,503,786
Europe	1,215,150		1,108,196		1,313,611
Asia	786,512		1,094,458		1,018,675
Australia/New Zealand	425,277		488,108		617,919
Other	102,940		91,582		202,384
Net sales	$	7,039,959	$	6,889,575	$	7,656,375

The following table represents long-lived assets by geographic area:

	August 31,
(in thousands)	2014		2013		2012
United States	$	871,326	$	868,643	$	907,009
Europe	243,280		239,899		250,392
Australia/New Zealand	11,309		12,446		36,097
Asia	8,814		7,618		7,917
Total long-lived assets	$	1,134,729	$	1,128,606	$	1,201,415